Bangladesh: Bomb explodes outside Indian president’s hotel in Dhaka

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee pictured after his election win last year. Pic: AP.

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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Police say a small homemade bomb exploded outside a hotel in the Bangladesh capital where visiting Indian President Pranab Mukherjee is staying.

Local police official Biplab Sarker said Pranab was not in the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel when Monday’s explosion happened. He said no one was hurt.

The explosion comes amid a nationwide general strike called by the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which is protesting trials of its leaders for allegedly committing crimes against humanity during Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war.

Rioting has swept Bangladesh since Thursday when a war crimes tribunal convicted and sentenced Delwar Hossain Sayedee, a Jamaat leader, to death for committing atrocities during the war.

At least 58 people have died in clashes between police and protesters since Thursday.